Interlude 19.x
|previous=Scourge 19.3 |next=Scourge 19.4 }}19.x (Donation Interlude 1; Blasto) is the fourth chapter, and first interlude, of Scourge. Blasto gets a new lab from Accord, Bonesaw and Defiant end up trashing it. Afterwards Bonesaw plays Blasto like a suit. Plot Accord meets Blasto his old hated enemy to deal with some uppity nazi's, are there any other kind. We see an in-depth look into Blasto’s tinker process. Two of the ambassadors that had previously been guarding Blasto are thrown back down the stairs with holes in them now dead thanks to an unseen foe. Bonesaw goes about trying to steal Blasto's bio-technology and Data. She is accompanied by Damsel of Distress who she has modified, she was the one who killed the ambassadors. Defiant shows up as the two murderers while they are confronting the bio-tinker. Defiant effortlessly dispatches Damsel of Distress by bisecting her with the nano-thorn generator in his leg and then obliterating everything above her shoulders. Bonesaw recognises him as Armsmaster immediately. When she claims to have loaded herself up with a 'bajillion plagues', Defiant claims that he would unleash that upon the world if it meant killing Bonesaw. However, his armor is sealed, the lab is sealed, and Blasto - who is unprotected - is a villain and, therefore, in Defiant's eyes, an acceptable loss. Defiant immediately attacks Bonesaw, impaling her through the heart and deploying a set of additional blades to harm her further - something which Bonesaw identifies as Mannequin's work. When Bonesaw attempts to enlist Blasto's help against Defiant, Blasto is fine with his death if it means that Bonesaw will perish. Defiant continues to fight Bonesaw, managing to strike her in two, but a combination of Bonesaw's redundant and augmented biology as well as a binding agent prevents him from finishing her off. Bonesaw escapes, abducting Blasto in the process, while Defiant continues to struggle to free himself. Later, Dragon arrives, having been unable to arrive any sooner. In her humanoid body, Dragon manages to free Defiant from Bonesaw's binding agent. While they did not manage to stop Bonesaw, Dragon reveals that she was successful in ensuring the death of the Siberian. Defiant and Dragon continue their pursuit. Major Events *Accord sets up Blasto with a lab; intending him to be a fall guy for the authorities.In Accord’s defense, he was planning on framing Blasto, and not letting the tinker get to the point where he really finished a dangerous project; let him start working, get caught up in things, and then disappear, leaving a message for the heroes so they can stumble on the guy with piles of classified material and a possible Endbringer-in progress (note how the place is nice, but it’s not Accord’s real headquarters, as they were described in the last chapter of Migration). I was going to have something like that in there, but couldn’t find a place for it at the end that wouldn’t kill the tempo. - Comment by Wildbow on Interlude 19.x **The Slaughterhouse Nine interfere. *The Nine lose valuable members. Trivia *The comment about frog DNA and Dinosaurs harkens to Jurassic Park. Published in 1990, after the timeline divergence. It is unknown if it was originally published on Earth Bet or published on Earth Alph and then transferred over. *Bonesaw points out in this chapter that Defiant's spear makes use of some of Mannequin's technologies - this is a callback to Mannequin's non-verbal comment that he and Colin are similar. *It should be pointed out that Blasto had been a Tinker for years before he attempted, and failed, to create The Morrigan. This is possibly means that had he just triggered he would not have even been able to attempt it. Characters Site Navigation Category:Chapters Category:Interlude Chapters